Wrangling Your Finances

Is your bank account a disaster zone? Are you finances looking sad? Then you are probably in need of some help. Luckily, there are plenty of folks out there that have a sound financial head on their shoulders, and by following their advice, you can wrangle your finances back into control. Read on to find out more.

Do freeze your credit cards

Now before you run off screaming in a panic, I don’t mean calling the bank to get your credit cards frozen. Well, unless things are really bad and you need intervention style assistance.

What I do mean is to take those bad boys and a plastic sandwich box. Then fill the box with water and lay the credits cards in it. The deeper the box, the better for this job.

Then pop it in the freezer. Yes, your family will look at you like you are crazy, but what this provides is an interruption between the experience of seeing something that you want to buy and deciding to actually buy it. As you have to defrost your card to use it.

Basically, it prevents impulse buying. But unfortunately, it only works for online shopping you have set your account details not save your credit card information. That is why you have to be very careful when shopping online. As it can be so easy to press click and you have emptied out your bank account.

Don’t book in any shopping sprees

Talking of shopping, some of us see it as a necessity, others see it as a sport. If you are in the latter category, then it’s best not to book in any shopping trips while you are trying to get a hold on your finances.

This is for two reasons. The first is that going shopping will put a lot of temptation in your way and derail your efforts in getting your finances in order.

The second reason is that if you do manage to stay strong and don’t buy anything, it will end up bringing your financial crisis to your attention. So until things are back on an even keel, it’s best to stay away from the shops for a while.

Do get frugal with gifts

Now, I know that generosity is a virtue, but you can’t give it away if you don’t have it, right? That means when it comes to birthdays, anniversaries, and other celebrations you need to be more frugal until you finances are back where they should be.

Of course, getting the right gifts for someone is never easy, and a reduction in the budget can just make this harder. Buy you can get around this by buying the items in bulk during the January sale, and then storing them away for the rest of the year.

Or try hopping onto some of the online auction sites. Where you will often find some high-end cosmetics and toiletries for a vastly reduced cost, that make great gifts for any occasion.

Carrying cash in your wallet can give you a false sense of being flush. That is you feel like you have more money than you do. So you end up devaluing or discounting the cash in your wallet, especially if it’s in change form, and spending it.

But you don’t take the amount spent off of your original budget, and that can make it easy to go over your limit very quickly.

However, for those that work in an opposite way, it can be useful to have cash in your wallet. As it’s harder to hand this over than to just charge things to your card all of the time. Which make it easy to forget and not keep track of your spending.

Obviously, you will have to find the one that works for you best in this case. If you are struggling to work out which this try them both, and see which method that helps you spend the least money!

Do budget realistically

You also need to get pretty good at budgeting to get your finances back on track. Luckily this isn’t quite the ‘Mission Impossible’ that it sounds. All you need to do is get a budget tracker and do your sums at the beginning of each month.

You can get ones in paper format. Or you can get ones that work on your mobile phone. Meaning you will always have it with you, and then there is no excuse for not tracking your spending.

The basic premise is that you need to add up all of your incomings, and then minus all of you outgoings from this. Anything you have left is for you to spend or save as you see fit.

But you really shouldn’t be spending on anything before you have worked out how much you have, if anything, left over once you outgoings have been paid for.

Also, your budget is a document that you have to refer to regularly. It’s not something you can just do once for the month and then forget about.

Why? Well, it’s because your budget should be informing your spending decisions each and every time you make a purchase. If you check to see whether you have enough money and what effect this will have on your finances each time you buy something, it will be a lot easier to stay in control of your finances. This is something can help restore financial equilibrium and is a great skill to take with you into a more stable financial future.

Do cut back on the luxuries

Last of all, sometimes it’s necessary to make sacrifices for things that we want to achieve in life and getting control of our finances is no exception. That means cutting back on life’s little luxuries until the things are more stable.